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Paterson Taking Charge of Budget, Wants All the Blame
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 3, 2010
Modified Jun 3, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 3, 2010
Modified Jun 3, 2010
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With New York State operating without a budget for the past two months, have you ever wondered how the government is still, ha, "functioning"? Well, every week Governor Paterson sends a one-week extender budget over to the legislature, which passes it in a up or down vote (they can't modify it). This is pretty much business as usual, but things are about to get dicey, because Paterson is now threatening to include the budget cuts he proposed in January in the temporary spending bill he'll submit to lawmakers tomorrow. "I'm taking over," Paterson told reporters. "I'm not going to sit here and watch this debate go on and on."
This means the extender budget could include Paterson's controversial furloughs for state employees, and lawmakers will either have to accept them on Monday or reject the entire measure, shutting down state government. But a Paterson administration source tells the Times Union "the added cuts would begin with cuts that had been provisionally agreed upon by the governor and the Legislature. The list of cuts could become more distasteful to lawmakers if the budget languishes as the weeks tick by."
This morning, Paterson told John Gambling on WOR, "What I have suggested to the legislature is they just take the budget that I issued…and just blame the whole thing on me. And pass it. And say he’s intractable, he isn’t compromising and we’re sick of him and we don’t want the budget to be late, so we’ll just pass it. We can all get out of here, and I’ll take the blame, and I welcome it. Because time will bear out what I’m saying." Gambling darkly predicted the budget wouldn't get passed until November, to which Paterson replied, "We’re now starting to injure ourselves." Um, starting?!
Tagged
budget
forget it jake it's albany
governor paterson
new york state
paterson
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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